The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 23

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

23

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(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)

Meeting of Immanuel Conference.

It has again pleased God to let the Im-
manuel Conference meet. The meetings were
held in the chapel of Grace Congregation at
Greensboro, N. C., from May 4—6. Friday
morning at 9 o’clock Conference met for a
private session. After the reading of a Scrip-
ture lesson and the singing of a hymn, an
essay on the subject: ‘‘How can our Paro-
chial schools be made to gain members for
Christ and His Church?’’ was read by Prof.
Henry L. Persson of Southern Pines, N. C.
The afternoon session was opened by the
reading of the 119th Psalm, and then Rev. P.
Engelbert read a paper on: ‘‘The Benefits
and Use of the Lord’s Supper.’”’ At the night
session Rey. W. Phifer of Mount Pleasant
preached a sermon on John 1, 41: ‘‘And they
brought him to Jesus.’’ The preacher ad-
monished his hearers to bring others to Jesus,
showing 1. How we are to do this; 2. What
the motives are that should move us to do so.
After the preaching the paper of Rev. P.
Engelbert was again taken up.

Saturday morning Conference again met for
a private session in which the themes for next
Conference were selected. In the afternoon
an address ‘‘On the Lutheran Church and its
History’’ was delivered by Rey. N. J. Bakke,
showing the origin and growth of the Church.

At night student Edw. E. Stuckert of Con-
cordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., who recently
took charge of our mission station at Wins-
ton, N. C., delivered a sermon on Gen. 28,
10—18. His subject was: ‘‘Why is our Lu-
theran Church, in which the Gospel is preached
in its truth and purity, a most important place?
1. Because it is the house of God. 2. Because
it is the gate of heaven.’’

Sunday services were as follows: In the
morning Rey. P. Engelbert preached a mission
sermon; in the afternoon Rey. Geo. Schutes
preached a pastoral sermon. Holy Communion
was also celebrated during this service, Rev.
Schooff of Meherrin, Va., preaching the con-
fessional sermon, At night Rev. N. J. Bakke
preached an anniversary sermon, it being three
years since Grace Church was dedicated. All
Services were well attended. Delegates from
the various mission stations assembled in great
numbers. From the remarks which some of
them made at the closing of Conference it can
be concluded that they were highly interested
and much benefited by this meeting of Im-
manuel Conference. E.A. H. Buntroox.

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The Story of Faith.

Some time ago, writes a German pastor, I
Stood by the bedside of a sick laborer who
had a wife and four children. He had lain
sick for three weeks, and the sickness had
exhausted all his means. Noticing that he
Was weeping while we sang a precious song

of Zion, I asked him why he wept? was he
troubled with the thought of parting with his
wife and children? He looked at me stead-
fastly, almost reproachfully, and answered:

‘‘Does not Jesus stay with them? Has not
the Lord said He is father to the fatherless,
and a judge of the widow? No, they are all
cared for. I have prayed the Lord that He
would be their guardian. Is it not so, wife?
You are not troubled; you are not afraid;
you believe in Jesus?’

‘*Surely,’’ she replied, ‘‘I believe in Jesus,
and rejoice that you goto Jesus. I shall fol-
low you, with the children in His own time.
Jesus will help me to train up the children
through His Holy Spirit.”

‘‘Why did you weep then?’’ I asked.

“For joy; for I thought if the singing is
so beautiful here, O, how beautiful will it be
when the angels help in it! I wept for joy
that His blessedness is so near.’’

Then he motioned to his wife. She under-
stood, and went to the shelf, and brought
down a little saucer in which her husband
kept his money. There were six groschen
(about seven pence), in it, that remained of
his store. He took them out with trembling
fingers, and laid them in my hand and said:
“The heathen must have these, that they may
know how to die in peace.’’

I turned to his wife who nodded assent and
said:

‘“We have talked it over already. When
everything has been reckoned for the funeral
these six groschen remain.

‘*And what remains for you?’ ‘The Lord
Jesus,’’ she replied. ‘‘And what do you leave
for your wife and children?” ‘‘The Lord
Jesus,’’ he said, and whispered in my ear:
‘He is very good, and very rich.’’

So I took the six groschen, and laid them
in the mission box as a great treasure, and it
has been a struggle for me to pay them away.
But if they had not been paid away, the dying
man’s wish would not have been fulfilled.

That night he fell asleep. And neither his
wife nor his three eldest children wept—neither
in church nor at the grave. But the youngest
child, a boy about five years, who followed
the body, wept bitterly. I asked him after-
ward why he wept so bitterly at his father’s
grave, and the child made answer:

“J was sorry that father did not take me
with him to the Lord Jesus, for I begged of
him with my whole heart that he would take
me.”

‘(My child,’’ I said, *‘your father could not
take you along with him; only the Saviour
could do that; you should pray to Him.”

‘“Qught I, then, to pray to Him for it?’
he asked.

“No, my child, if the Saviour will take
you, He Himself will call for you; but if He
will have you to grow up you must help your
mother, and haye her live with you; will

He said: ‘‘I would like to go to Jesus,

and I would like to grow up that mother
might live with me.’’

“Now then,” I replied, ‘‘say to the Lord
Jesus that He must choose.’’

‘That is what I will do,’’ he said, and was
greatly delighted and in peace.

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A True Story for Disobedient Children.

Some years ago there lived a family in Eng-
land consisting of the father, mother, and two
sons. The older of the boys got very angry
at his father one Sunday for denying him the
privilege of taking a pleasure ride. He made
up his mind that he would not stay at home
any longer. He persuaded his brother to go
with him, and they left home. They went to
a town by the seaside, intending to go to sea.

Before going, howevér, they called on the .
Rev. G—, to assist them in getting a situation
on board a man-of-war. This good man saw
that there was something wrong. He asked
them why they left home. The older boy
frankly told him, that it was to spite their
parents. After the preacher had heard all
about the matter, he tried to show the boys
what a sin it was to run off from home. He
made a deep impression on the younger boy,
who took the clergyman’s advice and went
home. But the other son resolved to go on
in his evil course.

About fifteen years after this had taken
place the Rev. G— was called to the prison
to see a man who was to be hung in a few
days. When he entered the cell he saw a
wretched, miserable-looking creature sitting
by the table. The prisoner said: ‘‘Do you
not remember me?’’ ‘‘No,’’ said the clergy-
man, ‘‘I do not recollect that I ever saw you.”’
Then the poor fellow said that he was the older
of the two boys who had called on him years
before. He told him how that he had gone far
away from home, and lived as he pleased, and
fell into bad company. _ He went from bad'to
worse. At last he committed a robbery and
& murder, and for that he was now to be exe-
cuted. The minister wrote to the man’s par-
ents, and his father came to visit his wayward
son, and had the unspeakable anguish of stand-
ing by while he suffered the penalty of the law.

Luth. Child's Paper.

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A Prayer for Grace.

A poor man in Fife, before eating, asked
a blessing in the following weighty words:
‘tLord, give me grace to feel my need of
grace; and give me grace to ask for grace;
and give me grace to receive grace; and,
O Lord, when grace I receive from Thee,
give me grace to show grace, even to those
who show no grace to me.’

The Duchess of Gordon, who heard this
prayer, wrote it on a slip of paper which,
after her death, was found in her hand.

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